Students Find Loaded Gun in Tillamook Movie Theater

With less than a week that has gone by since the awful shooting in Newton, Connecticut, another incident has taken place involving a gun and two seventh-graders. This time; however, the ending was a happy one and resulted in no one getting hurt or killed. In fact, what happened at a movie theater in Tillamook, Oregon, demonstrates- when it comes to weapons, young students can be more responsible than adults.

125 students in Tillamook, Oregon, went on a field trip Wednesday morning to the local Coliseum Theatre to watch “The Hobbit.” The trip was a reward to the students for getting good grades and in a city of 5,000 near the Pacific Ocean. Two students demonstrated how they were more than book-smart during this trip.

When Levi Crabtree and classmate Kolton McKinney went to sit down, Kolton pulled his seat down and something fell from it. Levi told CNN affiliate KGW in Portland that, “He sat down in his chair and I heard a ‘clunk’ and I looked down and there it was.” What they saw was a gun, according to Tillamook Police Chief Terry Wright. The gun was a semi-automatic pistol that was fully loaded with a round in the chamber. It was also reported that the safety was off.

Instead of not saying anything to anyone and possibly keeping it for themselves, they alerted a staff member from the school who then alerted the police. The two students also did the smart thing by not touching the gun. When asked why the two students didn’t pick up the weapon, Levi told KPTV “I’m a Boy Scout. Kolton and me took a hunter safety class. One of the rules is that you treat all guns as if they’re loaded.”

Kolton had another reason for not picking up the gun as he said, “I was pretty scared. It could have been a concealed weapon that was dropped or it could have been from a crime scene.” Kolton spoke with KGW and asked, “Who would do that? Seriously, there’s a bunch of people that go to that theater and they put a gun in there.” In answer to Kolton’s question, Wright responded by saying someone who’s “careless” and “reckless.”

Police told them that a man showed up Wednesday night at the theater to see if anyone had discovered his gun and brought it to the lost and found. The individual claimed that he lost it in the theater the night before. The man is said to have a Tillamook County concealed handgun license but never reported it lost to the police. The police said that the gun owner did not think about calling law enforcement officials that his firearm was lost.

Luckily, the two Junior High School students were responsible and thinking more clearly. Randy Schild, Tillamook’s school Superintendent, told KPTV that, “Our students reacted exactly like we would hope and that is they recognized that is was a gun, recognized that they needed to stay away and contact a teacher immediately. I hope this is a learning opportunity not only for our students, but any students that see it on TV or anywhere else.”

Though the police haven’t released the identity of the man who lost his weapon, they did tell CNN that his concealed-carry permit has been revoked. Also, all information about the case is being sent to the district attorney where he could possibly face charges of reckless endangerment.

When officers originally arrived at the scene, everyone was removed from the theater as they removed the gun and conducted a thorough search. When finished, everyone was allowed to return and students watched the end of the movie. As a precaution, several law enforcement officers remained in the theater.

Students Find Loaded Gun

Middle Schoolers Find Loaded Handgun In Movie Theater During Field Trip To See The Hobbit.